“I’m very pleased with the win today,” Head Coach John Severance said. “We were the more disciplined team and that’s how we have to play from here on out.

“Everyone had great attention spans and were very focused today.”

Senior Giorgia Pozzan and freshman Liselot Koenen continued their winning ways with Pozzan taking her match 6-1, 6-0 and Koenen winning 6-0, 6-3 to both stay undefeated this spring at 3-0.

“We didn’t commit the mistakes that we have in the past,” Severance said. “We have to continue to play this way against out tougher opponents.”

In doubles play, where Severance wanted see improvement, UH swept the Cowgirls, winning all three matches with senior Laura Ring playing her first match since the 2009-10 season.

One player that Severance spoke highly of in the fall was freshmen Charlotte Phillips of Nottinghamshire, England. Phillips picked up her first win of the spring against the Cowgirls (6-2, 6-2).

“Charlotte has a lot of talent and potential, and if she keeps improving she’ll be winning weekly,” Severance said.

Phillips decision to come to UH was an easy one.

“I loved the Houston atmosphere and felt at it was the best school for me academically,” she said.

“And the weather is good compared to England’s.”

Phillips’ goal, like the rest of the Cougars, is to achieve a national ranking.

“I just want to keep improving and help the team win, which will get us nationally ranked.

“I think I can help the team win and, by being left-handed, bring something different to the team.”

The Cougars hope to continue their strong play with a pair of home-weekend matches. They will take on Northwestern State at 10 a.m. Saturday and UTSA at noon Sunday at the John E. Hoff Tennis Courts.

“Northwestern and UTSA are two very good programs,” Severance said. “We’ll have to keep playing like we did this past weekend — focused with no errors.”

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The quest to earn a national ranking continued for the Cougars on Saturday against Colorado.

Coming off a loss to No. 6 Baylor last weekend, UH (0-2) looked to further make a statement, but fell in a 4-3 decision to the Buffaloes (2-2).

Things looked good early for the Cougars as they won the opening doubles round but unforced errors during the singles round would prove costly in the end.

“Anytime you lose 4-3 it’s going to be disappointing,” Head Coach John Severance said. “The fact that we blew so many opportunities and made unforced errors is going to haunt us. That was the deciding factor today.

“I made it clear to the team that they (Colorado) weren’t going to roll over and give it up. We have to capitalize on our overall-good play and can’t win when we commit so many errors.”

During the opening doubles round Charlotte Phillips and Maja Kazimieruk took their bout with an 8-3 decision while Giorgia Pozzan and Bryony Hunter won their match 8-6 to give UH an early lead.

During the singles round, freshman Liselot Koenen continued her strong play as she dominated her match 6-0, 6-2 to move to 2-0 in singles play this spring.

Senior Giorgia Pozzan also added another victory to her singles’ resume with a 6-3, 7-5 rout of CU’s Erin Sanders.

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The Cougars took on No. 6 Baylor on Saturday and lost 6-1 in their spring-season opener.

“I thought we competed very well,” head coach John Severance said. “We had opportunities to win more singles points against the sixth-ranked team in the country.

“We showed a lot of people there today that we’re a competitive bunch and it’s only a matter of time until we’re nationally ranked.”

Last week he cited the importance of being able to beat the nation’s top teams and next week the goal remains the same as UH takes on Colorado at 1 p.m. Saturday at the John E. Hoff courts.

The Buffaloes (1-1) plays in one the toughest tennis conferences in the nation — the Pac-12 — and UH hopes that a win will strengthen its argument for a national ranking.

Severance wasn’t happy about the loss to Baylor, but hoped it showed that they are capable of competing with high-level teams.

“I don’t  like losing, even to the number-six program in the nation,” Severance said. “We have to play well 100 percent of the time, playing well 90 percent of the time wont cut it.

“The team wasn’t upbeat about losing and I don’t want them to be, but they now know that can compete with the best.”

Senior Giorgia Pozzan took on  Baylor’s Diana Nakic, the 14th-ranked player in the nation, and lost a close 7-5, 7-5 singles match .

“She showed how much she wants to compete and win,” Severance said.

Freshmen Charlotte Phillips and Liselot Koenen also had strong performances against the Bears, but are not finished products.

“They have to keep improving and gaining experience,” Severance said.

The Cougars have goals for the season and they know how to achieve them.

“We want to be nationally ranked,” Severance said. “And have to now win against those good teams.”

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Anyone for tennis?

The Cougars open their spring campaign against Big 12-powerhouse Baylor (2-0) at 1 p.m. Saturday in Waco.

After a strong fall season, head coach John Severance said that UH’s goal for the spring is to earn a national ranking.

“We have a fairly decent schedule and have the talent to compete with the best programs in the nation,” Severance said.

Senior Giorgia Pozzan led the Cougars last fall with a 17-6 record overall and followed that with two singles titles in the fall.

“Her work ethic is very good and she has an strong will to win,” Severance said. “She has those qualities that can’t be coached”

Liselot Koenen and Charlotte Phillips, who showed flashes during the fall, highlight a freshmen class that Severance called “one of the best we’ve had.”

Despite some of the Cougars’ key players being less experienced players, Severance thinks that youth might also work as a strength.

“We’re a young team, have great leadership and have great team character,” he said.

Despite the impressive collection of individual talent, the Cougars will have to come together to find success.

“It will have to be a team effort,” he said. “Everyone will have to contribute

“This the best 1-6 we’ve ever had in terms of talent.”

The Bears will provide a great benchmark for the Cougars to measure themselves against.

“Baylor has been a top-five program for a while now and we have great respect for what they have achieved,” Severance said.

Two freshmen highlighted play at the ITA Regionals in Fort Worth for the Cougars.

Charlotte Phillips and Leslot Koenen each won four matches during the five-day tournament to advance to the semi-finals of singles consolation play, where they were scheduled to face each other, but the team opted to skip the head-to-head matchup.

“Charlotte played pretty well and only lost one match to the No. 1 player from UTEP,” head coach John Severance said. “But she was in complete control of the match. She made some unforced errors, but she had a very good tournament.”

Giorgia Pozzan got her first loss of the season. After winning her opening round match in the main singles draw, Pozzan lost in three sets to Noel Scott of Texas.

Pozzan also teamed with Bryony Hunter in doubles play.

After dropping their first match to a Texas A&M duo, they won against pairs from Texas A&M Corpus Christi and TCU. They lost in the consolation finals to seventh-seeded Stephen F. Austin.

The ITA tournaments are tough to measure success by merely wins and losses because they are not flighted. In flighted tournaments, school’s top-seeded players play against other school’s top-seeded players, second seeds against second seed and so on. The ITAs allow for all seeds to compete against each other, creating matchups that ordinarily would not occur.

“It’s tough to judge,” Severance said. “We had some good wins, but also a couple of losses I didn’t think would happen.

“We still need to clean up our errors and serve at a higher percentage and be even more disciplined in our shot selection alone. That’s what we’ll try to focus on.”

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Several Cougar tennis players are coming off wins from their most recent tournament, the Roberta Allison Classic. The most notable winner, Giorgia Pozzan, remains undefeated in tournament play this fall at 6-0 after claiming her second singles title of the fall.

In doubles play, Pozzan and Bryony Hunter earned a title in the consolation bracket, improving to 14-7 in play together.

“They’re really starting to click, and any team that plays them will have their hands full,” head coach John Severance said.

After this weekend, the Cougars will play their first tournament at home for the Cougar Fall Draw, Nov. 4-6 at the John E. Hoff Courts.

The Cougars are coming off a 6-1 win April 16 vs. Louisville as they head into the Conference USA Championships tomorrow as the No. 9 seed.

They are set for a date with No. 8 seed Tulane in the first round. UH has had strong play as of late, notching wins in nine of their last 10 matches and finished the regular season with a 16-7 record.

“Clearly, to win nine of 10 matches you have to be doing something right,” head coach John Severance said. “We are playing well right now. We have a lot of confidence, we’re hoping to build on that and try and get out of conference with four wins.”

Tulane (11-10) has won eight of 11 matches and will look to extend a mediocre season. The Cougars and Green Wave did not meet during the regular season and their last meeting was more than two years ago in February 2009. The Cougars hung on for a 5-2 victory.

“Well, we’re a little bit shocked, very shocked that we are the ninth seed, but without conference scheduling, things like this can happen,” Severance said.

If the Cougars get by Tulane they will face No. 22 and top-seeded Tulsa on Friday, posing a tough route to a C-USA title.

After that would be a potential semifinal matchup with rival No. 4 seed Rice lurking if the Cougars get on a run.

“They’re a very deep team, they’ve got the No.1 seed, but you know you have to beat four teams to win the championship. They’re just another team in the way,” Severance said.

In the Cougars’ last match against Louisville they had strong play in their singles matches led by Dionne Sanders and Bryony Hunter.

“I’m confident in anyone at every position,” Severance said, “We’re all playing well, at least five of the six girls are playing really good on any given day,”

Sanders has won 11 straight matches, including a straight sets win in the Louisville match (6-2, 6-2). Hunter has won seven straight matches and also had a straight sets match win (7-5, 6-2) againt the Cardinals.

Louisville snagged one win in doubles against the Cougars as the Hunter-Sanders duo lost 8-5, and they need to bounce back strong and play like they have in singles matches.

“Doubles in general need to step it up even more,” Severance said. “We had a pretty good outing versus Louisville, but I think in general we need to step it up in doubles and give it a good shot for that one point.”

The C-USA Championships runs April 21-24 in Orlando, Fla., hosted by Central Florida at Lake Cane Tennis Center.

No. 2 seed SMU and No. 3 seed Marshall join top seed Tulsa and No. 4 Rice with first-round tournament byes.

The Cougars first test on the road to a title begins at 2 p.m. Thursday against the Green Wave.

“Tulane’s a very good team and I think it will be a very exciting match,” Severance said. “Probably the best No. 8 versus No. 9 match in the history of the conference tournament.”

The first opponent will be St. Edwards on Saturday. The match is set for a noon start at John E. Hoff courts.

The Cougars (13-6) will play a double-header Saturday starting with SMU (16-4) at 9:30 a.m.

The weekend will end with a 3 p.m. matchup versus Prarie View A&M.

Golf team looks to right ship at local competition

The Cougars will have to get their act together in a hurry come Monday, when they play their last tournament before the Conference USA championships.

UH will hit the green Monday at the Jim West Intercollegiate in Victoria. The tournament will last until Tuesday.

UH will have two weeks to prepare for the C-USA championships which will be played in Texarkana from April 24-26.

On the court, Kacprzyk transforms from a student into an aggressive competitor who uses her temper to intimidate opponents.

“On the court and off the court I have two personalities,” Kacprzyk said. “Sometimes people don’t really recognize me when they see me on the court. All I focus on is tennis at that point.”

Over the course of Kacprzyk’s career she has learned to funnel her aggression into success on the court.

“She’s been getting progressively better,” head coach John Severance said. “She’s smarter on the court, and a lot more disciplined. Frankly, she just knows what to do at the right times now.”

Severance has nicknamed Kacprzyk “the grinder” because it resembles her style of play.

“She’s an aggressive baseline player, and for her to win, her best chance is to grind out her opponents,” Severance said. “Essentially that’s ball movement and discipline. She has to play clean tennis, which means very few unforced errors.”

Kacprzyk credits her father’s involvement in tennis as the reason why she first gravitated to the sport at the age of seven.

“My dad is a tennis coach, so I was always around it,” she said. “I knew when I was young that it was something that I was going to do.”

She was not ready to give up on the sport she loved, so upon graduating high school in Poland, she sought a place where she could continue playing while receiving an education. It ultimately landed her at the John E. Hoff courts at UH.

She said she is proud of how the tennis program has improved in the four years since she first arrived.

“It’s good to see how not only coaches, but also how people in the athletics department have new ideas for development,” she said.

Kacprzyk’s college tennis experience will come to a conclusion this spring, but her academic career will continue into the fall semester, as she finishes up her degree in sports administration with a minor in public relations.

After dropping their debut, the Cougars have won two of their last three matches.

“The only way we can measure success is with wins,” head coach John Severance said. “We’ve only got one job, to do and that’s win matches and we’re expecting to win all three games this weekend.”

The Cougars two losses this year have come against skilled teams in No. 3 Baylor and No. 48 Rice.

Severance said he wants the team to gel as a unit. Instead of stressing on each individual matchup, he said the team will try to focus on treating the weekend as a whole.

“I don’t care how it gets done,” Severance said. “But I want a W.”

Saturday’s matchup against Texas State will prove to be a difficult one as the Bobcats are in contention for the Southland Conference Championship.

The game will mark the first of the season for the Bobcats after having their previous matches cancelled due to weather implications.

Sunday’s competition against UTEP is a conference match, and could be the most important of the three.

Severance said the Cougars play more comfortably on their home court and hopes it will benefit their performance.

“We’re accustomed and used to playing at home,” Severance said.

“We take that to our advantage and so far this year we’ve had a pretty good turnout.”

The Cougars (3-2) will take on UT-Pan American at 2 p.m. Friday, and continue play at noon Saturday against Texas State.

The Cougars will cap the action Sunday at 11 a.m. against Conference USA opponent UTEP. All games will be played at John E. Hoff Courts.

After this weekend’s slate of matches, the Cougars will travel to Monroe, Louis. on the 19th to take on Lousiana-Monroe.

After having Sunday’s season finale against Conference-USA rival UAB cut short due to rain, the Cougars will now head to Tulsa to take on East Carolina in the first round of the C-USA tournament.

Head coach John Severance was pleased with the team’s performance even though neither team picked up the victory.

“It was encouraging today that during the start of the doubles matches we were controlling the play and that hasn’t happened in a while,” Severance said in a press release. “I think our girls feel a little better after today since they had a chance to beat UAB, which has beaten some good teams in our league. If we play well in doubles we have a chance (to) beat anybody in the conference.”

The Cougars enter the tournament as the No. 10 seed after posting an 11-7 regular-season record. They face a higher ranked opponent in East Carolina, which sits at no. 7 after finishing the regular season 17-9.

After an up-and-down regular season, the Cougars ended their campaign with strong showings.  Excluding the season finale, the Cougars won three of their final four regular-season matches and showed some progress and improvement in all aspects of the game.

This marks the sixth straight season that the Cougars have won at least 10 games under the tutelage of Severance. Severance said that after the pleasing performance against UAB, he and his team are looking forward to taking on ECU in Tulsa.

“We are very excited to play ECU,” Severance said Wednesday. “We are looking forward to playing well this weekend.”

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After posting a 4-3 win over McNeese State on Wednesday, the Cougars will now take on Conference-USA rival UAB in their final match of the regular season at 11 a.m. Sunday at the John E. Hoff Courts.

In Wednesday’s contest against McNeese State, the Cougars battled back from a slow start and took both of the final matches in three sets each to secure the victory. Head coach John Severance was pleased with the manner in which the team battled back in the face of adversity.

“We squeaked out a win,” Severance said. “We had to be fairly resilient and win both matches that were the last two on, both in three sets. That was a good thing. It showed that we can come back.”

Severance said that he thought the team had been too confident entering into Wednesday’s match, but was happy with the final result.

“I think they underestimated McNeese a little,” he said. “But with that being said, I have told them time and time again that there are no easy matches. McNeese was playing on senior day. They had a lot of emotion. They came out firing and set the tone by winning the doubles point so we had to fight back all day. I’m proud of the way that we fought back.”

With Sunday’s match coming against a league rival it tends to take on added importance. Severance explained that there are many factors that will make for an exciting match on Sunday.

“It means a lot for a few different reasons,” Severance said. “One, it’s our last match of the year. Two, it’s our last home match of the year. It is a conference match and how well we do against UAB can determine our seeding (in the C-USA tournament) so it’s very important. UAB has beaten a few teams that have beaten us this year so we’re going to have to play well.”

Severance said that weather might be a factor in the outcome of Sunday’s game.

“There’s a little chance of rain on Sunday, so there’s a chance we might go indoors,” said Severance. “It might be an eventful Sunday.”

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After earning two impressive victories at home against Prairie View A&M and St. Edwards, the Cougars stumbled against Louisiana-Monroe over the weekend, dropping the match 4-2.

Today, the Cougars travel to Lake Charles, La., to take on McNeese State at 2 p.m. in what will be their final road contest before beginning play in the Conference USA tournament on April 22 in Tulsa, Okla.

Head coach John Severance was disappointed in last weekend’s home loss and hopes to see a better effort today.

“I thought it was a disappointing loss,” Severance said. “We definitely had multiple chances to win the match outright in singles but failed to do so. We also had a match to send it into the doubles point, which I thought we had a very good shot of winning.

“But instead of stepping up to the occasion, we let it slip right by.”

Severance also pointed out that mental errors have been more prevalent than physical ones this season.

“I think we’re playing well enough to win,” said Severance. “However, we’re still making the mental errors that befuddle our coaching staff.

“We need to seize the moment and not let the moment seize us. We are flat out not doing that on all six courts. Some of us are doing a very good job; others are doing a very poor job of that.”

In regard to the upcoming match, Severance said that a victory will require a team effort that, thus far in the season, the Cougars have failed to show.

“I think every match is important,” Severance said. “Whenever that light bulb goes off in our heads and all of us play to our abilities, we are going to be a good team. It just hasn’t happened yet. So we’re trying to get to that point before (the C-USA tournament).

“If we come out and more than two or three people play well, then I think we’ll have a good time there. If not, then I think we’ll be in a dogfight.”

Although the conference championships are looming in the near future, Severance wants to remain focused on the season’s remaining matches.

“We’re playing to win as many matches before conference and win as many matches as we can when we go to Tulsa,” he said.

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While head coach John Severance gave praise to all players on the team, he noted the importance of setting the tone early with top players picking up victories in their respective matches.

“For the most part, our whole team has been playing well,” Severance said. “I give a lot of credit to our top three players Bryony Hunter, Laura Ring and (Joanna) Kacprzyk. It’s very important for them to set the tone of the match.

“Having said that, I expect four, five and six to do well all the time.”

Severance also attributed their success in part to the fact that they are playing at home for the first time in almost a month.

“Our team is very comfortable at home,” Severance said. “We know the courts, we know the bounce and just the familiarity of playing at home is definitely an advantage.”

With last weekend’s victories, UH improved to 10-6. Severance, however, still sees room for improvement. Although the Cougars have won doubles points in each of their previous two matches, he said that doubles play is one of his biggest concerns.

“I thought we performed very well in singles in the last two matches,” Severance said, “but we are still not where we need to be in doubles play.”

This aspect of the game will be crucial for UH to beat Louisiana-Monroe this weekend. Severance said that the team has been working to improve their doubles play this week so they can be in top form for Saturday’s match.

“ULM is a team that is very tough,” Severance said. “They’ve beaten a few teams that we have beaten already this year. Our key to success will definitely have to be the doubles aspect of it.

“It’s not the end of the world if we lose the doubles point; however, I think it will set the tone for the match if we can pull it off. We are going to try to emphasize doubles because our singles play is in good shape right now.”

The matchup is one of three remaining in the Cougars’ regular season before the Conference USA tournament begins April 22 in Tulsa, Okla.

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